The following speech was delivered by His Majesty King Oyo at the Closing Ceremony of the Young Leaders Forum 2018 at Skyz Hotel in Kampala, Uganda under the theme, “Connecting Young Leaders Today”, on Saturday, December 08, 2018.
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The Distinguished Young Leaders, The Moderators and Speakers, The Conference Organizers and Partners, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me start by welcoming you all to this very important Young Leaders Forum 2018 under the theme: “Connecting Young Leaders Today”.
Today, not only are the Youth the largest generation, we are also the most technologically gifted and connected generation in history.
Let us just take an example of all of us gathered here today. I am sure that each one of you has at least 2,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. If we put these together, just here alone, we have over 200,000 persons who are following us. These followers are our connections, our network and our influence.
Now imagine, how much connections, network and influence we can have when we connect the Youth of Africa who are over 60% of continent’s population?
I therefore, commend and thank the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa and Education Forum Africa for organizing this Young Leaders Forum to inspire and connect the Young Leaders in Africa today.
I want to congratulate all the Young Leaders here today for attending this Forum. I believe the Young Leaders Forum has provided you a great opportunity, space and platform to unlock your potential and take action to make Africa a better place. Are you inspired and ready to go back and make a positive difference in your respective communities and countries?
Africa’s youth have tremendous potential and talent to lead and take individual and collective action to make things better. Let us stop lamenting, let us change our mindset and let us start being the masters of our own destiny. Let us resolve to look at problems as opportunities and find solutions rather than wait for solutions to be given to us. Let us do our best to acquire the skills we need to thrive. And let us work together for Impact. – KING OYO
When we do that everyone will fall in love with the Youth. We will become an attractive proposition. And we shall become part of the Solution not the problem. I can assure you partners like the Open Society Initiative and I see World Merit here and others will back us all the way.
I want all the Young Leaders here and beyond to know that:
You Must Give to Receive. Let us give our best. Let us take advantage of every opportunity. Let us leverage every platform to make a positive difference. I therefore, expect that from this Young Leaders Forum, you have developed brilliant but practical actions/solutions and have put in place a mechanism to implement these actions. This is the only way we can walk the talk, move from words to actions, from problems to solutions and show our Leaders how it should be done. – KING OYO
I shall be happy to lead and open doors and ensure that your proposed actions and solutions are taken and presented to the African Union, the Regional Economic Bodies and the United Nations among others, so that as the Youth we can advocate and influence to ensure that “Nothing is done for the Youth without the Youth”. Besides I know our solutions work.
I want to encourage all the Young Leaders here to use your God given talent, creativity, passion and energy to create solutions that positively contribute to solving today’s greatest challenges.- KING OYO
But when doing this, please remember the following:
- Never seek money, fame or prestige. Be driven by the desire to make a positive difference and contribution to humanity. And the rest will follow you.
- There is no sustainable success without a “Team”. Simply put, pull your efforts, synergies and resources together with others and you shall succeed in your ventures.
However, I am aware that we need to provide the Young Leaders with tools, financial resources, capacity building and mentorship to become successful in their ventures.
On my part, I have established the King Oyo Youth Innovations Fund that aims to inspire the youth in Africa to develop solutions to end HIV/AIDS, address youth unemployment, ensure food security, promote peace and culture and end poverty among others. We will give the youth, funding, capacity building and mentorship to enable them become a powerful force for positive change in their communities and beyond. We will also showcase brilliant youth innovations to high-level forums like the African Union and the United Nations General Assembly. I encourage the Young Leaders here to develop brilliant impactful solutions and we shall work together.
I invite you all to visit my Kingdom. Tooro is gifted by nature with bountiful beauty and several tourist attractions. My people will be very pleased to welcome you all.
It is now my pleasure to declare the 2018 Young Leaders Forum closed. I wish you a safe journey back home. Have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2019.
Thank you
Dr. Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV
King of Tooro
United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Youth
Messenger of Peace
